Wednesday, July 5, 2017

Whose 'Gun Violence' Research Should We Trust?

The Centers for Disease Control is supposed to guard the nation's health. It does that when it comes to studying and proposing solutions for infectious diseases like AIDS or epidemics like obesity.

Why, then, does the CDC continue to shy away from scrutinizing a clear threat to the public health: gun violence?

The Star-Ledger goes on to blame “Congress, ever the loyal servant of the fanatics at the National Rifle Association.” Congress had restricted CDC funding for gun research under the 1996 Dickey Amendment, named after former congressman Jay Dickey. The restriction remains in effect today, despite efforts by the Obama Administration to reinstate CDC gun-violence funding.

While I oppose economic regulation, my opposition to regulation does not extend to guns.

Economics is by definition the field of voluntary contractual agreements relating to production and trade, and government has no business coercively interfering in such associations unless evidence of fraud, breach of contract, extortion, or other rights-violating behavior becomes evident.

Guns, however, represent deadly force. Essentially, guns’ only purpose is to kill. Since, to function, government requires a monopoly on the use of physical force, it is proper for government to monitor and oversee private gun ownership and use. Yes, so-called “gun violence” is a serious issue that government should properly address. To do this, the government obviously needs good research on the subject.

But which research should we trust? That’s the question.

Government research is by definition politicized research. Just look at the government’s climate change “research.” It’s driven by an anti-fossil fuel, crony “green energy” political agenda. Likewise, many gun control advocates want to use gun oversight regulation as a de facto means of banning guns by making the process of stable law-abiding citizens obtaining a gun overly onerous. This would trample individuals’ right of self defense. That being the case, should government research be trusted to be objective? History says no. The reason CDC gun violence research was banned in the first place is precisely because the CDC’s previous research was heavily biased in favor of an anti-gun, anti 2nd Amendment political agenda.

About Me

Greetings and welcome to my blog. My name is Michael A. (Mike) LaFerrara. I sometimes use the pen or "screen" name "Mike Zemack" or "Zemack" in online activism, such as posted comments on articles. “Zemack” stands for the first letters of the names of my six grandchildren. I was born in 1949 in New Jersey, U.S.A., where I retired from a career in the plumbing, building controls, and construction industries, and still reside with my wife of 45 years. The purpose of my blog is the discussion of a wide range of topics relating to human events from the perspective of Objectivism, the philosophy of reason, rational self-interest, and Americanism originated by Ayn Rand.

As Rand observed: “The professional intellectual is the field agent of the army whose commander-in-chief is the philosopher.” I am certainly not the philosopher. But neither am I a field agent, or general. I am a foot soldier in that Objectivist army that fights for an individualist society in which every person can live in dignified sovereignty, by his own reasoned judgment, for his own sake, in that state of peaceful coexistence with his fellow man that only capitalist political and economic freedom can provide. While I am a fully committed Objectivist, my opinions are based on my own understanding of Objectivism, and should not be taken as definitive “Objectivist positions.” For the full story of my journey toward Objectivism, see my Introduction.

One final introductory note: I strongly recommend Philosophy, Who Needs it, which highlights the inescapable importance of philosophy in every individual's life. I can be reached at mal.atlas@comcast.net. Thanks, Mike LaFerrara.

Recommended Essays/Videos

Quotes I Like

Let me give you a tip on a clue to men’s characters: the man who damns money has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it. Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is evil. That sentence is the leper’s bell of an approaching looter.—Francisco d'Anconia

I love getting older...I get to grow up and learn things. Madalyn, 5 years old, Montesorri student, and my grand-daughter

The best thing one can do for the poor is to not become one of them. Author Unknown

Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed. Francis Bacon

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. Ronald Reagan

Thinking is hard work. If it weren't, more people would do it. Henry Ford

Intellectual freedom cannot exist without political freedom; political freedom cannot exist without economic freedom; a free mind and a free market are corollaries. Ayn Rand